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Spencer started school this week and with that comes the awkward first day of school photo

also...

What does one little boy do when it's super hot and really humid out and your mom will only take you to the park every now and then because it takes 20 minutes to drive to the nearest park, and you can't play on the grass at your apartment due to the swamp that surrounds you, and you can't go on a walk around the block because they don't believe in sidewalks on residential streets and you live on a curvy street so drivers have a very frightened look when they pass you because they thought they were going to hit you and the neighborhood teenagers (and your parents) won't let you play football with them so you just stare at them longingly and then clap and cheer when they throw the ball. Well I'll tell you what you do...

#1 Eat Lots Of Ice-cream (Courtesy of Grandpa Pace, did I mention I love that man)

#2 Hang Out With 3 Sets Of Missionaries

#3 Help Your Dad Move Lots Of Boxes Even If He Doesn't Need Your Help

#4 Play In The Extremely Warm Hurricane Rain

       The parking lot gets a giant puddle which feels like you are standing in a hot tub. Oh but don't worry in 2 minutes you will be completely dry again after the massive 5 minute rain storm

#5 Take Lots Of Baths Due To Having The Stomach Flu

#6 Try To Learn To Blow On Your Food

The Horse

If you didn't know my dad is an amazing wood worker.
Last spring our drunk neighbors gave us a very old rocking horse. I thought I could just sand it up and it would work great, but no big deal if it didn't. My dad took one look at it and decided it was a piece of junk. Then he decided Rhett needed a rocking horse and he was going to build one. So he worked really hard at cutting the wood just right and then he sanded and sanded and sanded and then sanded some more. And thanks to my sister in-law for sewing the mane it turned out amazing! And Rhett loves it!! It's frightening to watch him get on and off by himself especially with our hard floor but he can do it.

The Road Trip

Well, we now live in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. You could say it's a foreign country since they speak a very different language, and the climate is completely opposite of where we were just living. But we have a great ward, a nice apartment and the ghetto library we go to has trains and toys for Rhett to play with.

So our journey started out on the 29th of July. Thanks to my parents and some guys from the ward, we packed up the truck and finished cleaning the apartment and we were on our way before noon. For months we have been dreading this forever long car ride with Rhett. He can't even last an hour in the car on the way to Salt Lake so how was he supposed to last 30 hours in the car? However prayers are answered and Rhett did amazing! We couldn't have asked for a better kid to go in the car for that long with us! He would complain when we would get back in the car in the mornings and a few times when we were in the car for more hours then needed, but other than that he didn't cry at all. Vanilla Wafers and graham crackers saved us, as did twenty different toys he could play with, plus Spencer can make an amazing elephant noise which Rhett would squeal and clap his hands each time Spencer did it. Rhett would get cabin fever and just start laughing so hard. We drove through Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and finally on Thursday afternoon we made it to Mississippi. My dad is amazing!!! He drove the truck by himself and paid for everything the entire time. We couldn't have done it without him. He decided no one should ever get within 100 miles of Dallas, Texas. For two reasons, number one because he "is a wanted man, and all his exes live in Texas" and two we were almost hit more times then we can count. There is a billboard in Texas which says that Texans drive friendly. Don't believe it, it's a complete lie! In Kansas we ate breakfast with some awesome bikers and they let Rhett sit on their motorcycle, however he was a little scared to do that. But Rhett loved to sit and "drive" the truck with Grandpa. Louisiana is where we got scared  that we really wouldn't understand anyone, we couldn't understand a single word they said when we ordered pizza. In Oklahoma as we were eating lunch a man asked us where we was headed and where we were from. He then said we were crazy to leave Utah and to even think about living in Hattiesburg. Then he told me I was going to "broil" when we moved there.

Why yes this is how Rhett started off the trek across the country. The other days he slept for only an hour or so.

There was a terrible storm in Wyoming the rain was so bad you couldn't see where you were driving for a while 

We saw more windmills on this trip then we ever want to see again!

Rhett loved driving the truck, poking grandpa when we stopped for gas, and chasing him down the halls at the hotels.

This sign says to Fort Collins, just for Dolly

This is Denver

Welcome to Kansas home of windmills and dead corn fields

Welcome to Texas

Somehow Rhett slept all the way through Dallas

He loves cheese crackers. Not the cracker part, but just the cheese part

The Mississippi River

A man tried to explain to us that if we went to Natchez it would be faster. I could not understand what he was saying and thought he was saying nachos

Who knew a belt could entertain a child for so long